Canada's Budget 2026 renews its critical minerals strategy and adds antimony to the exploration tax credit
Most of the new money supports exploration and strategy renewal. The processing push runs through the separate C$2 billion accelerator announced in July.
What happened
Budget 2026, tabled on 5 November, lists C$2.3 billion for the Critical Minerals Strategy and says the new funding builds on Canada's existing C$5 billion strategy. Natural Resources Canada would receive C$424.4 million over four years from 2027-28 to renew the Canadian Critical Minerals Strategy, covering technology investment, geoscience and research capacity, and targeted funding for priority projects.
The budget extends the 15% Mineral Exploration Tax Credit and the 30% Critical Mineral Exploration Tax Credit, both due to expire on 31 March 2027, to flow-through share agreements made on or before 31 March 2032. It also adds antimony to the critical-mineral credit. Ottawa costs the two measures at C$956 million over five years from 2026-27. The budget also points to the C$2 billion Canada Critical Minerals Accelerator launched in July, whose first agreement supports Teck's C$850 million expansion of its Trail Operations.
Our take
Adding antimony is the specific change. It brings the credit into line with antimony's place on allied critical-mineral lists and with China's export controls on the metal, and it lowers the cost of early-stage exploration for Canadian juniors.
The budget is mostly a renewal. The tax credits support exploration, not refining, so whether Canada builds processing capacity, where the supply gap sits, depends on how actively the accelerator deploys its C$2 billion.
Why it matters for AI infrastructure
The budget ties the accelerator to minerals for batteries, semiconductors and defence equipment. Antimony is used in flame retardants and some semiconductor applications, and Teck's Trail refinery produces germanium and indium among other metals.
For data-centre hardware supply chains, the useful outcome is more non-Chinese refining. This budget extends incentives for exploration more clearly than it funds that refining step.
What we're watching
- Passage of the ways-and-means motion that adds antimony to the CMETC definition
- New Canada Critical Minerals Accelerator deals after Teck's Trail expansion
- How the C$424.4 million strategy renewal is split between processing and geoscience
- Flow-through financing volumes for junior explorers in 2027
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